We Found the Most Fascinating (and Depressing) Site on the Internet

November 27, 2015

If you’re not participating in the orgy of commercialism and — with any luck! — electronics-inspired brawling of this year’s Black Friday, perhaps you have some time on your hands. Maybe you just need a break from the soul-crushing joy of family togetherness. Well, then steal away to a quiet place with your laptop and prepare to travel around the world with the fascinatingly bizarre and not a little depressing webcam streaming site GoBefore.Me.

What is GoBeforeMe? A better question is, what isn’t it? Ostensibly, “Gobefore features live streaming cameras that instantly take you inside world’s most popular venues [sic].” In reality, it’s a collection of good- to awful-quality webcams streaming from locations all over the world. Some of them might be considered the “most popular venues in the world” — like the Shake Shack in Madison Square Park…

But hey, have you ever wanted to sit in glum silence in the corner of a Russian bar? From the comfort of your own home? The Piplz Bar in Blagoveshchensk is but a click away.

Screen grab.

Perhaps you’d like to visit a Comfort Inn in Maryland. Or maybe you need some virtual gas from the Exxon in Webster, Texas. I wonder if that two-liter of Coca-Cola will head home with someone today? And what’s that box of tissues doing behind the S.O.S. pads?!? Mysteries abound!

And for those whose interests veer to the somewhat more prurient, there are, of course, some nudie bars. If your idea of a good family weekend is to virtually loiter in the dressing room of a gentleman’s club — loosely defined — there’s the Pure Platinum feed, with two separate cameras. Be sure to shower up to get the shame off!

Screen grab.

There you have it. New York, give thanks today for a reason to stay away from the stores and avoid football altogether — the best Thanksgiving gift one can ever receive.